(“Prisoners” also gains texture because the soldiers’ captivity lasted 17 years, twice that of “Homeland” - the adult characters, separated in their teens or early 20s, are now approaching 40.) But its slower, quieter, more contemplative approach feels more like a stylistic than financial choice, and the relationships among characters, especially family members, are often more finely drawn and more plausible than in the American show.
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It’s clear from its spare look that “Prisoners of War” operated on a more slender production budget than “Homeland,” and it makes greater use of conventional TV storytelling methods, like fake news reports and cheaply manipulative music. (One will emerge, eventually, but with a much smaller role.) There is a skeptic, in the person of Haim (Gal Zaid), an army psychologist who “rehabilitates” Nimrode and Uri by virtually reimprisoning them while interrogating them about their captivity, and who finds their behavior suspicious. Danes’s Carrie Mathison character, the government operative who suspects that the returning prisoner may have been subverted by his captives and turned into a terrorist. A third story line involves the sister of another captive who did not make it back alive refusing to accept his death, she sees and hears him around her and risks being institutionalized. The contrast can be seen immediately in the more complicated setup of “Prisoners of War.” Two Israeli soldiers come home, rather than one American, as in “Homeland”: Nimrode (Yoram Tolledano) returns to an adoring wife and two children who barely remember him Uri (Ishai Golan) to a former fiancée who married his brother after he was abducted. officer, and has emphasized detection and suspense over everyday events. Danes’s high-wire performance as a troubled C.I.A.
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The difference between the series can be summed up, superficially but accurately, by saying that “Prisoners of War” is about soldiers, while “Homeland” is about Claire Danes. Or rather, the shows have been shaped with such varied intents that the question doesn’t have a definitive answer.
The question of which is better comes up, of course, especially given the praise each has received, but it’s not that important. So what’s most interesting in watching “Prisoners of War” - now having its American premiere online on Hulu - is how different the two series are, despite their symbiotic relationship. The deal to remake the Israeli original for American television was struck even before it was filmed, and Gideon Raff, creator of “Prisoners of War,” was an executive producer of “Homeland.” He is now working on the second seasons of both. The ties that bind Showtime’s “Homeland” and the Israeli show “Prisoners of War” are unusually strong.